Iraq's Sadr orders followers off streets

Iraq's Sadr orders followers off streets 30 Mar 2008 13:54:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Sadr orders his followers off the streets

* Iraqi government welcomes Sadr's announcement

* Sadr aide says fighters will not hand over weapons
(Updates with Sadr aide)

By Khaled Farhan

NAJAF, Iraq March 30 (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on his followers on Sunday to stop battling government forces after a week of fighting in Iraq's south and the capital threatened to spiral out of control.

The government immediately welcomed Sadr's statement, saying it would help the authorities impose security in Iraq.

A government crackdown on Sadr's followers in the southern oil port of Basra has sparked an explosion of violence that risks undoing recent improvements in Iraq's fragile security and jeopardising U.S. plans to withdraw troops.

"Because of the religious responsibility, and to stop Iraqi blood being shed ... we call for an end to armed appearances in Basra and all other provinces," Sadr said in a statement given to journalists by his aides in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf.

"Anyone carrying a weapon and targeting government institutions will not be one of us," the statement said.

Sadr also called on the government to stop "random illegal arrests" of his followers and to implement an amnesty law passed by Iraq's parliament in February to free prisoners.

Sadr's Mehdi Army militia have complained that Iraqi and U.S. forces have exploited a truce called by the cleric last August to make indiscriminate arrests. The U.S. military says it only targets those who have disobeyed Sadr's ceasefire.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered Shi'ite fighters in Basra to lay down their arms and has extended a 72-hour deadline until April 8 for them to turn over heavy and medium weapons in return for cash.

But a top aide to Sadr, Hazem al-Araji, said Mehdi Army fighters would not hand over their guns. He also said that Sadr's followers had received a guarantee from the government that it would end "random arrests" of Sadr followers.

"As the government of Iraq we welcome this statement," Maliki's spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said in response to Sadr's comments. "We believe this will support the government of Iraq's efforts to impose security."

Maliki launched the military operation last Tuesday, vowing to reassert his government's control over Iraq's second city, which is dominated by various militias. So far only strongholds of Sadr's followers have been targeted.

The operation has sparked a furious backlash from Sadr's Mehdi Army, who believe Maliki and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, his most powerful Shi'ite ally, are trying to crush them ahead of provincial elections due in October.

(Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim in Baghdad; Writing by Ross Colvin and Peter Graff; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)


Iraq says military operation to continue 30 Mar 2008 14:11:49 GMT Source: Reuters
BAGHDAD, March 30 (Reuters) - Iraqi troops will continue their six-day-old military operation in Basra despite a call by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for his followers to stop fighting, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Sunday.

"The operation in Basra will continue and will not stop until it achieves its goals. It is not targeting the Sadrists but criminals," Dabbagh told Reuters.

(Reporting by Wisam Mohammed; writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)


-------------Al-Sadr's nine-point statement was issued by his headquarters in the holy city of Najaf and broadcast through loudspeakers on Shiite mosques. It said the first point was: "taking gunmen off the streets in Basra and elsewhere."

He also demanded that the Iraqi government stop "haphazard raids" and release security detainees who haven't been charged, two issues cited by his movement as reasons for fighting the government.

Followers handed out sweets in Baghdad's main Mahdi Army militia stronghold of Sadr City.


Scattered firing could be heard in central Baghdad hours after al-Sadr's statement was released, and rockets or mortars were fired toward the U.S.-protected Green Zone.

At least seven Iraqis were killed and 21 wounded when two rounds apparently fell short, striking houses in the commercial district of Karradah, police said.

A U.S. public address system in the Green Zone warned people to "duck and cover" and to stay away from windows.


One of al-Maliki's top security officials was killed in a mortar attack against the palace that houses the military operations center, officials said.

The prime minister's Dawa party issued a statement of condolences identifying the slain official as Salim Qassim, known by his nickname Abu Laith al-Kadhimi.

The strength of the resistance to the week-old offensive has taken the U.S.-backed government by surprise, forcing it to come up with a new tactical plan targeting several Mahdi Army strongholds, a government official said.

The official, who was in Basra but spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also had brought in reinforcements and appealed to local tribal leaders to help secure the area.

The prime minister, himself a Shiite, has called the fight "a decisive and final battle" and vowed to remain in Basra until government forces wrest control from militias, including the Mahdi Army that is loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

But al-Maliki also acknowledged Saturday that he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash the offensive would provoke in Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power.

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BAGHDAD — Iranian officials helped broker a cease-fire agreement Sunday between Iraq's government and radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, according to Iraqi lawmakers.

The deal could help defuse a wave of violence that had threatened recent security progress in Iraq. It also may signal the growing regional influence of Iran, a country the Bush administration accuses of providing support to terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere.

Al-Sadr ordered his forces off the streets of Iraq on Sunday. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed al-Sadr's action as "a step in the right direction." It was unclear whether the deal would completely end six days of clashes between U.S.-backed Iraqi forces and Shiite militias, including al-Sadr's.

Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni lawmaker who oversaw mediation in Baghdad, said representatives from al-Maliki's Dawa Party and another Shiite party traveled to Iran to finalize talks with al-Sadr.

Haidar al-Abadi, a Dawa legislator who is close to al-Maliki, confirmed that Iranians played a role in the negotiations. Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to al-Maliki, said he could not confirm or deny Iranian involvement in the deal.

"The government proved once again that Iran is a central player in Iraq," said Iraqi political analyst and former intelligence officer Ibrahim Sumydai.

"Everything we heard indicates the Sadrists had control of more ground in Basra at the end of the fighting than they did at the beginning," said al-Nujaifi, the Sunni mediator. "The government realized things were not going in the right direction."